The
evening began with a stirring rendition of Sullivan’s famous song, “The Lost
Chord,” arranged in choral form, and sung by all the soloists, plus a large
number of ensemble members. The splendid
accompaniment was played on the organ by Mike Fazio … which makes sense, since
the first line of the song is: “Seated
one day at the organ…”
Bill
Sorensen, the company’s resident lead tenor, began the solo offerings with
“Mattinata” by Leoncavallo. The man is
youthful and charming, with good
operatic style, and strong stage presence. Oh, and by the way, he can really
sing, too – he sounded beautiful. The next performer was Carol Connolly,
performing a completely different style of song: “I Love a Piano” by
Next
came Allan Church, with a perennial G&S favorite: “The Nightmare Song” from Iolanthe. His performance was “spot on;” I find it hard
to imagine anyone else in the role. He
then favored us with a recitation of a poem about Henry VIII. Allan is always a skilled showman, and a
master of language – either spoken or sung!
Teresa
Hollo followed, with a contemporary Broadway song: “Popular,” from Wicked, by Schwartz
(of Godspell fame!). I haven’t
seen the show, but I believe its conceit is that it portrays “Glinda the Good”
as a cloying – and annoying - sycophant.
Pretty voice, and charming stage presence notwithstanding, Teresa
managed to be – er – quite cloying! Bill
Zeigler followed with the popular “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the
Roof. Suffice it to say that he was
the embodiment of “Tevye.” Laurie
Weissbrot brought the house down with his hilarious rendition of Tom Lehrer’s
“Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.” The way
he related to the audience, and seemed to revel in the somewhat bloodthirsty
words of the song was priceless. “Ridiculous” gave way to “sublime” with
Melanie Silvernail’s performance of “The Bell Song” from Lakme. The ethereal quality of her voice, and her
astonishing coloratura were stunning.
As if
all that weren’t enough, young Joseph Heitman, and his mother, Gina Lombardo,
did a delightful tap dance to a recording of Frank Sinatra singing “You Make Me
Feel so Young.” Would that all mothers and sons worked so well together! The first half of the program was topped off
by Karl Stofko, rivaling Laurie, for “most bloodthirsty performance.” As a demented chef, blithely hacking at
various items of seafood, while singing “Les Poissons” from The Little
Mermaid, Karl was also hilarious.
The
second half began with Deanna and John Swanson performing “Has Anybody Seen Our
Ship,” by Coward. It was very cute, with
high energy, and very professional. Hey, these two are opera singers, but they
fell into this “vaudeville” style so easily!
The next piece was also a duet, but the style couldn’t have been more
different. Pat Sloan and Bill sang a
well-loved duet from The Pirates of Penzance: “O false one, you have deceived me.” It was really great; all I could think of
was, “these guys are really in their element.”
More G&S followed, with another duet by Carol and Allan: “O I have wrought much evil,” from The
Sorcerer, which they had performed last fall.
Deanna
then returned to sing “Norina’s Aria” from Don Pasquale. Deanna is a new mother, yet she still has
those strong high notes, and a very polished stage presence! John was on again, next, with a very stylish
rendition of Cowards’ “Mad Dogs and Englishmen;” personally, I got the feeling
he was channeling Rex Harrison. Renee
Molnar-Haines performed another well-loved Broadway ballad; “And This is my
Beloved,” from Kismet. Her voice
was warm and rich, and all I could think was, “all Broadway sopranos should
sound like this!” Bill then joined Renee
for another offering from The Sorcerer:
“O love, true love” – another glimpse of this group now. Bob Cumming, our stage director – cum – muse
– cum – driving force, was up next, with good friend, Marilyn Cone, singing “It
Never Can Be Love,” from Naughty
Bob
was joined by Kathleen Thompson and Leighton Phraner, to sing the always
popular “Here’s a Howdy-Do” from The Mikado. This performance proved that there is no one
more masterful at hilarious scene-stealing than Leighton. These three are veteran G&S performers,
who know how to sing well, and get laughs at the same time. Leighton continued
his comical high jinx with an extra “G&S gem:” “When I was a lad” from H.M.S.
Pinafore. The other two returned for
another “fan favorite:’ “The Bell Trio,” again from Pinafore. One of the hardest lessons one must learn in
performing G&S is to keep singing beautifully, and staying true to your
character, even when one performer (yes, Leighton, I do mean you!) is behaving
outrageously, and getting quite an – hysterical – reaction. Bob and Kathleen were spot-on in that regard,
and the “encores” worked marvelously.
The “grand finale” included the entire ensemble, once again, singing what many refer to as the “Gilbert and Sullivan anthem:” “Hail, Poetry,” from Pirates. Although the piece is usually done a cappella, we were ably accompanied once more by organist Mike Fazio. It was another effective choral piece, and all in all, a very entertaining and well performed concert. In total, we raised $1723 in donations, with $300 going toward the churches in which we performed, and $200 going to our illustrious accompanist (who, evidently, turned right around and matched that amount with a gift to the company!). It was another testament to how hard CG&SS people work: as Gilbert said, in Trial by Jury, "And a good job, too!"